Timber Sources
In Phil's own words.
Almost all of the wood I use comes from a handful of arborists and tree surgeons within a twenty mile radius of where I live. Over a period of years I have developed relationships with them, so that they know what I'm interested in and like to use.
The timber is almost always from domestic jobs where time onsite is at a premium. Quite often I'll get a text message with images of the felled tree and something next to it to give scale, either a boot or a person, and a message saying something like: "If you want it you need to be here within the hour, otherwise it will be cut up for firewood".
To be fair, the arborist I mainly deal with would prefer the wood be used rather than it either becoming firewood or chipped for biomass. When those texts arrive I grab my chainsaw and safety gear and a bunch of sizing discs, and spend the rest of the day cutting urn sized blocks and bringing them back to the workshop.